Four American Teachers Stabbed in China, Suspect Arrested, Photos Released
Four faculty members from Cornell College, who were stabbed in Beishan Park in Jilin City
Four faculty members from Cornell College, who were stabbed in Beishan Park in Jilin City, lay on the ground, each clutching the wound on their lower back.
Four faculty members from Cornell College, who were stabbed in Beishan Park in Jilin City, lay on the ground, each clutching the wound on their lower back.
Four American teachers were attacked and stabbed in the lower back while visiting a park in Jilin City, Jilin Province, on Monday (10th). The injured are currently receiving treatment in a hospital. American congressmen are working with the U.S. Embassy in China to ensure the victims receive proper medical care. The police have apprehended the suspect.
On Monday, a message circulated on Chinese social media showing that a stabbing incident involving foreigners occurred in Beishan Park, Jilin City, Jilin Province, with four foreigners injured. In the video from the scene, four injured individuals, two men and two women, are seen lying on the ground, each pressing their hands tightly against the wounds on their lower backs, with bloodstains visible on the ground. One person's entire T-shirt is half-soaked in blood. A police officer is seen squatting on the ground attending to the injured, while someone is assisting the victims in making phone calls. Many tourists are present, watching the scene.
A few hours after the incident, American media reported that the four teachers stabbed and injured in Beishan Park in Jilin City were from Cornell College in Iowa. A family member of one of the victims told Iowa Public Radio that all four survived the attack. U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks from Iowa confirmed this news on social media platform X, stating that her office is working with the U.S. Embassy to ensure the victims receive treatment and safely leave China.
According to a report by Xinhua News Agency on the 11th, local police have arrested the suspect in this violent incident, a 55-year-old named Cui. The report stated that at the time of the incident, Cui was walking in Beishan Park and collided with a foreigner, leading him to stab the foreigner and three other foreigners accompanying him, as well as a Chinese tourist who tried to stop him.
On Tuesday, a reporter from this station called the Beishan Police Station, which is responsible for security in Beishan Park, to inquire about the condition of the injured teachers and the identity of the suspect. Upon learning the reporter's identity, the officer rudely told the reporter not to call them again: "Who are you as a reporter trying to understand the situation? Ask whoever you want, just don't call me again, understand?"
The officer immediately hung up the phone after speaking. The reporter also called the Jilin City Public Security Bureau and Jilin City Central Hospital, but the calls went unanswered. The reporter then called a department in the Jilin City government, and the woman who answered, when asked which department was handling the case, responded that she "didn't know."
Early Tuesday morning, the Chuanying Branch of the Jilin City Public Security Bureau issued a notification to various police stations, stating that at approximately 11:40 AM on June 10, a criminal case occurred in Beishan Park, Chuanying District, Jilin City. Five individuals were injured to varying degrees and are currently receiving treatment in the hospital without life-threatening injuries. The suspect, Cui Dapeng, is highly suspected and was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, black pants, and a black hat without glasses when he fled. Immediate arrest is required upon sighting.
Academic exchanges between Chinese and American universities are common, and Cornell College sent American teachers to Beihua University for such exchanges. Recently, four faculty members from Cornell College traveled to Jilin to participate in an exchange activity with Beihua University.
When contacted, Jilin City’s 120 emergency center declined to disclose which hospital the injured were sent to, citing “involvement of personal privacy”: “Because it involves personal privacy, I cannot disclose it. I definitely can’t tell you. If there are any issues, law enforcement or family members can retrieve the information.”
On Chinese social media, the stabbing incident involving Americans in Beishan Park, Jilin City, has been widely discussed. Former Anhui Province prosecutor Shen Liqing said in an interview: “Yesterday, four American teachers from Cornell College in Iowa were attacked in a park in Jilin City. Since the case just happened, the assailant’s social background and motives are unclear. The specific identities of the victims differ from random attacks on unspecified targets, and it’s uncertain if it relates to speculated anti-foreign or anti-American sentiments. It’s too early to draw conclusions.”
Increasing social hostility and revenge against society
Shen Liqing believes that in recent years, social hostility in China has intensified, leading to more incidents of revenge against society targeting unspecified victims. These events are mostly lone-wolf attacks, with victims often being vulnerable individuals such as schoolchildren and women. The perpetrators are typically unemployed or feel socially unjust, venting their dissatisfaction with society in such ways.
There are also unverified reports that a faculty member from North China University was among the injured teachers. Chinese dissident Jifeng suggested that the incident might be linked to anti-American sentiment: “So-called patriots may want to create big news. Due to current hostility, actions such as killing officials, village heads, innocents, and schoolchildren are occurring everywhere, often blaming Americans.”
Hebei petitioner Ms. Li speculated that the attack on foreigners might reflect dissatisfaction with the authorities rather than hatred toward Americans: “Creating an international incident. In 2013 at Tiananmen Square, I witnessed an elderly petitioner who had been appealing for 24 years. He said, ‘I will create an international incident,’ and then stabbed a young foreign woman in her twenties with blonde hair.”
Some citizens are influenced by propaganda-induced emotional outbursts.
The four victims are reportedly in stable condition while receiving treatment at a hospital in Jilin City. However, by the time of the reporter’s deadline, Chinese authorities had not officially announced the incident. Senior media figure Mr. Gao said in an interview that this matter has sparked widespread discussion on social media: “Anti-American sentiment is relatively high in the Northeast, and people there are more susceptible to propaganda, leading to extreme behavior.”
Some netizens commented that parts of Chinese society have long been swayed by nationalist sentiments and a “victim mentality,” leading to dangerous xenophobic tendencies. The century-long history of humiliation in modern China, combined with the official ideological emphasis on “foreign forces constantly plotting against us,” can instill a “victim mentality” in some citizens. This mentality makes them overly sensitive to the outside world, blaming all negative events on “foreign forces,” and harboring latent hostility towards foreigners.
